Chapter 27. The Second Exemption Mission (1)
"Huff, huff…."
He was on the verge of swearing.
Enoch's shabby personal training ground located in the basement.
Half a day had passed since he started practicing with his sword non-stop.
No matter how excellent his physical abilities were, he had reached his limit now.
Thud.
Enoch supported himself with his sword and collapsed as if crumbling.
Three days had passed since he returned from his mission.
Now, Enoch was no longer just locked up in his room like before. Instead, he chose to be locked up in a slightly different place.
Enoch's training ground was abandoned in the corner of the basement.
Aside from Enoch's room in the family's huge fortress, it was almost the only space free from other people's eyes.
And the results of his training were steadily coming out.
'If I do a little more like this, I'll be able to use the 1st and 2nd Forms in various ways in actual combat.'
He understood the intention of Jechegeom's swordsmanship last time. Then he'll be able to find more ways to apply it.
He took a breath and judged so.
"Cough."
As he caught his breath, he coughed from the dust in the training ground that had been neglected for a while.
Perhaps because he had just finished training, his lungs were panting, thirsty for air. His overworked limbs ached as if they were about to be torn apart.
Even so, a smile lingered on his lips as he breathed roughly while holding his sword.
'It's fun.'
Of course, not everyone who picks up a sword can know this kind of fun.
It was only possible because this side had inherited the mana of the previous Enoch. That is, his talent, which was called the 'genius of the sword'.
Most of the growth of the sword, which was achieved to the point that he himself couldn't believe it, must have been thanks to him.
'I guess he wasn't called the genius of the sword for nothing.'
Enoch smiled without realizing it.
I guess people like what they're good at.
"Hoo."
As he sat on the floor and caught his breath, a huge mirror on one wall of the training ground caught his eye.
His appearance was reflected in the cracked mirror among the rusty swords abandoned throughout the training ground.
A shirt soaked in sweat clinging to his body. Inside, his solid body pulsed with breathing.
Even though he was seventeen years old, his body was thoroughly balanced and trained.
It was hard to believe that he had put down the sword for four years.
“…Why?”
Suddenly, a question arose again.
Four years.
It's not a short time.
What reason did the original Enoch have for giving up the sword for that long?
He suddenly looked around the training ground full of rusty and abandoned swords.
The original Enoch had even equipped his training room with various swords of each type like this.
It would have been difficult to even obtain such a full-fledged sword in the Magic Empire.
Enoch looked down at the sword he was holding in his hand.
Something felt off.
Was the reason he gave up the sword simply to adapt himself to the society of the Magic Empire?
'Or, was there another reason?'
Enoch's dark eyes, deeply sunken in thought, met each other in the mirror.
Anyway, he had a feeling that it wouldn't be a pleasant story.
"Take this."
Just as Enoch was lost in thought, a familiar voice reached his ears.
Whoosh.
Enoch snatched the object that flew from the blind spot of his vision. It was a water bottle filled with cold water.
He turned to the side where it came from.
Lien, wearing a maid outfit as usual, was leaning against the wall in one side of the dark training ground.
Her long silver hair shone faintly even in the darkness.
"Thank you."
"I'm just checking and taking care of Young Master's body."
She replied coldly as usual.
Judging from her tone, it seemed that she had been watching the training from the beginning.
For half a day.
Enoch clicked his tongue inwardly.
Lien was still sticking next to this side almost all the time.
It wasn't a long time, but it certainly wasn't a short time since they decided to cooperate.
Even so, Lien's sincerity in trying to protect Enoch's body was consistent.
"Honestly, I've been curious about this for a while. What's the reason for helping Enoch this much?"
Lien didn't answer the question for a while.
But by the time Enoch had finished drinking the water.
She finally opened her mouth briefly.
"That person saved me."
Enoch's face wrinkled slightly as if he was puzzled.
"Saved you?"
"Yeah."
Enoch saved Lien?
Honestly, it was hard to imagine.
Enoch, who was despised as a non-magician, saved Lien at some point in the past.
It didn't seem like she would have been weaker than Enoch at any point in the past.
But Lien's emotionless eyes, as usual, didn't seem like she was lying.
'One way or another, it's an answer that's difficult to know all the circumstances.'
Come to think of it, Lien was the person who had been closest to Enoch since he was possessed by Enoch.
But in fact, he hadn't properly grasped anything about Lien until now.
'What exactly happened between the past Enoch and Lien?'
But before he could ask anything more, Lien changed the subject and said lowly.
"Ah, and there was a message from the Executive Office."
"What was it?"
"It was about preparing for the return event tomorrow."
"Return?"
Lien nodded slightly and replied.
"The Lord Head is coming back."
***
From the morning, a tense atmosphere lingered in the excessively large hall of the Elsyde Fortress.
Numerous magicians belonging to the family were watching the entrance from all over the hall.
Enoch looked around.
Including some of his siblings who were currently not on missions, a considerable number of combat magicians belonging to the family were gathered in the hall.
As expected of the fortress of the Main House. There were several magicians who had reached the vicinity of Rank 10 among them.
It was quite fun to examine their appearances one by one when he was bored.
Those who were dressed in sophisticated dresses or suits.
On the other hand, there were those who had just returned from a long journey, wearing long, tattered robes.
Even the various outfits and the Magic Gears or artifacts they were holding were all different.
But. Even in those appearances that had no sense of unity at all, there was only one consistent appearance.
─Tension.
The magicians in this place are all those with ranks that would make ordinary Empire citizens gape their mouths.
Even those who are famous in the field of combat where life and death are at stake, not in other fields.
An existence that even those people are nervous about.
There was only one.
"The Count has arrived!"
A magician of Rank 1 who reigns as a divine being to all magicians.
The owner of the Elsyde Border Earl territory, and the Head of the Main House, one of only twelve in the Empire.
Step….
Finally, a man entered with someone's voice echoing in the quiet hall.
A long frock coat with a blue tone.
A man with deep, blue, stern eyes and a blue cloak covering half of his body.
Behind him, magicians wearing the black uniforms of the Nemesis Knight Order followed like shadows.
Enoch's eyes narrowed slightly.
It was the first time he had actually encountered him, but there was no need for anyone to explain separately.
An aura that could never be mistaken and an overwhelming flow of mana.
The Elsyde Count.
He was Enoch's father.
Swish.
As he entered, all the servants, including the maids and butlers, quietly closed their eyes and bowed their heads.
At the same time, all the magicians belonging to the family lined up in the hall simultaneously raised their Magic Gears in front of their eyes.
Clack.
Numerous forms of Magic Gears, in a single motion, paid respect to the owner with reverence.
Grantel, who was standing at the front of the hall, slowly knelt on one knee and said.
“…I greet the Count."
They are similar.
As soon as he saw him, Enoch concluded.
「Kain Elsyde」
He had an impressive tall height, handsome looks that maintained his youth, and above all, sharp eyes that looked familiar.
It was strange to be looking at eyes that looked exactly like Enoch's, as if he was looking in a mirror.
The Lord Head passed through the hall and exchanged a brief greeting with Grantel.
"Grantel, thank you for your hard work while I was away."
"I just wanted to fulfill my duty."
The Lord Head nodded at Grantel's answer.
And then, passing through the hall, he slowly walked towards this side.
But for some reason, his eyes were already looking directly at Enoch.
Feeling a strange eeriness in it, Enoch knelt on one knee in front of him like the other brothers around him.
"I greet the Lord Head."
The Lord Head moved his steps and stopped exactly in front of Enoch. And then he slowly opened his mouth.
"I've heard the news."
Silence fell in the room for a moment.
The Lord Head's voice contained a natural sense of intimidation that overwhelmed those around him.
The Count looked down at this side with dark blue eyes for a moment, then briefly ordered those around him.
"Everyone except the current 9th Seat, step back."
A sudden order to leave.
At his words, the other magicians in the hall froze for a moment. It was too sudden of an instruction.
But Grantel said lowly to those who were hesitating in embarrassment.
"What are you doing."
Whether they had come to their senses at his words, the magicians in the left and right gradually retreated out of the hall.
A crowd of people retreating like a tide for a while. The hall was quiet except for the many footsteps of the people.
The magicians fully obeyed the decision of the Lord Head.
Instead, their subtle gazes were directed not at the Count who had issued the order, but at Enoch.
The sharp gazes of the people silently leaving through the door passed by.
Soon, the heavy door closed for the last time, putting an end to the quiet movement of the crowd.
Creak, bang.
Enoch smiled bitterly inwardly.
To be declared a private audience so openly in front of other magicians. It was a more unconventional development than he had expected.
Eventually, the empty hall.
In a space with only the two of them, the voice of the Lord Head echoed emptily.
"Unexpected."
Unexpected. Is he talking about the original Enoch?
Enoch thought, hiding his puzzled expression.
Meanwhile, the Lord Head said briefly while looking down at him.
"I thought you would be waiting for the disownment date."
For a moment, Enoch's thoughts stopped for a moment.
'He was waiting for Enoch to be disowned on his own?'
Enoch didn't answer the Lord Head's words.
No, to be exact, he couldn't answer.
If he answered wrong, and if he revealed evidence that he wasn't Enoch even by chance and met his death, there would be no more dog's death than that.
The Lord Head said to Enoch, who was keeping silent.
"You must have given up everything after that day. But now, I don't know what makes you move. Do you still have any regrets?"
Enoch's eyes moved very slightly.
'That day.'
Of course, he had no idea at all.
It was a question that was quite difficult to answer rashly.
'Not answering at all would be the right answer.'
If he babbles unnecessarily, only suspicion will deepen.
Enoch felt the gaze of the Lord Head looking down at him, but he closed his mouth and didn't say anything.
However, apart from his silent attitude, Enoch could gradually feel a strange feeling.
-Squirm.
From the moment he met his gaze, an unknown emotion welled up from deep inside him.
'Why is this happening?'
There was only one thing that he could guess from the unknown agitation of his heart.
'Could it be the influence of the original Enoch?'
Traces of emotions that were so intense that he felt doubtful.
Enoch recalled several events from before from that unfamiliar sensation.
'I had a similar feeling in the laboratory in Leopold last time.'
At that time, he had taken an unfamiliar stance that he had never inherited from the inner world.
In addition, the fact that he can be abnormally calm in battles with magicians where life and death are at stake is proof of that.
Perhaps those are the influences of the original Enoch.
'Because of that, I've thought that the senses of the original Enoch have been shared to some extent since before…'
But it was the first time he had felt the traces of the original Enoch so clearly.
Enoch took a short, deep breath and succeeded in suppressing the fragments of that emotion.
What exactly happened between the past Enoch and the Lord Head that these emotional traces remain?
He doesn't know. But one thing was certain.
He must not be swayed by emotions.
At least for this moment.
"You're not answering."
The Lord Head's dry words were thrown.
This time, all Enoch could do was to remain silent.
But apart from his taciturn attitude, he was fiercely criticizing the Lord Head inwardly.
'Answer what! You have to say something I can understand to answer!'
No matter how much of a veteran he is, there was no way to know this much detail about Enoch's past.
Swish.
Enoch slowly raised his head and looked at the Lord Head who was silently looking down at him.
So, there was only one thing this side could say to the Lord Head now.
Enoch opened his mouth in a rather low and solemn voice.
"Please give me the Last Exemption Mission."
At that answer, the Lord Head raised his eyebrows once, as if he was surprised.
"Instead of answering, you're going to prove it with action."
“…That's right."
There's nothing this side can say if the story drags on in an area he doesn't know well.
Then he had to shift the focus of the conversation to a story he knew.
And for this, there would be no more certain justification than to bring up the story of the Exemption Mission, which was an immediate task in front of him.
Fortunately, he didn't seem to notice any particular abnormalities and was silently looking down at this side.
But just the next moment when he thought he had gotten through it well.
An unexpected word dug into Enoch's ears.
"You've changed."
For a moment, Enoch's spine turned cold.
"Good."
And finally. The Count slowly opened his mouth.
"Then I will check once again."
…Once again?
Enoch raised his head without realizing it at the unexpected word.
The dark blue eyes of the Lord Head were looking down at this side.
"Whether you, who failed once in the past, can prove that value this time."
Wait.
What?
'He couldn't prove himself in the past.'
At the moment when a fleeting question brushed past at the words just now. The Lord Head declared to Enoch in a low voice.
"I hereby assign the Second Exemption Mission to Enoch Elsyde, the current 9th Seat direct descendant of the Elsyde family."
At the next remarks of the Lord Head who said that, Enoch doubted his ears for a moment.
"Wipe out all the black magicians under the command of Tantalus, the 13th-ranked executive-level black magician of Vendetta."